“Stephen won’t care,” Naomi responded, her voice fuzzy and near sleep.
“That doesn’t mean he won’t have something stupid to say,” Two replied.
Naomi gave a small laugh. “True.”
“He knows that you’re into girls, right?”
Naomi made a pfffft noise and said, “I am into people. Some of those people are women. He knows that, yes.”
“I’m just going to tell him to fuck off, I guess,” Two said, yawning.
“That seems like a wise policy,” Naomi replied. She turned over onto her belly and nestled her head into the pillow.
Two lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling, content for the moment to let sleep pluck at the edges of her consciousness without yet succumbing to it. She felt comfortably fatigued, exercised without being exhausted, too full of endorphins to worry about the repercussions of what she had just done. Still, one question lingered.
“Naomi?”
“Mmmh?”
“Did you make that happen?”
There was a lengthy period of silence. At last, Naomi propped herself up on one arm and looked at Two. Her hair was tousled, eyeliner smeared in dark smudges, lips still purple from the wine. She looked as if she wasn’t sure whether or not to be offended by the question.
“Would you believe me if I said I didn’t know?” she asked.
“Probably.”
Naomi frowned. “What if I told you that I haven’t slept with anyone, male or female, human or vampire, since I met you? Would you believe that?”
“Yes. Naomi, I’m not trying to start a fight.”
“No. But I want you to understand. I’ve wanted to make love to you since the third night after we met, when we went to the club and talked about Thomas.”
“I remember,” Two said. “We came home and sat on the couch and then you were going to bed, but you stopped, and there was this … this moment.”
“I wanted to invite you, yes. If you’d shown any sign, I probably would have. That’s, what … three months? No, four. That’s a long time to wait if I had magic powers that could make something like tonight happen.”
“That’s true.”
Naomi sighed. “Lisette is the only other vampire I have ever known who did this … this thing that I do. I’ve asked every Ashayt vampire that I’ve gotten to know on more than a cursory level, and it doesn’t happen to any of them. Few of them have even heard of it. She was supposed to teach me, but …”
“But Abraham happened.”
“Yes. So now here we are. Did I make you do it? I don’t know. Not intentionally, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t. Can you forgive me, if I did? Can we … I mean, is it still happening now? Are you lying naked in my bed because I’m making you do it?”
Two gave Naomi a small smile, shook her head. “No.”
“Good. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had an orgasm in four months. I’m happy that I waited. I’m happy that I shared it with you. I don’t want you to regret what happened tonight. I would very much like to pursue something more than friendship with you, but if that can’t happen, I still don’t want you to regret tonight.”
Two rolled onto her back again, stared up at the ceiling again. “It’s been more than a year for me. After Theroen … after he died, I wasn’t sure I would ever feel like I felt tonight again. I don’t regret it. I don’t think I’d regret it even if you’d made me do it. I just wanted to know.”
Naomi smiled, nodded, and asked, “Do you … are you interested in more?”
“Am I lying naked in your bed?”
“Yes.”
“Are you making me do it?”
Naomi’s smiled widened. “No.”
Two turned her head and glanced at Naomi. “That’s the best I can do right now. I don’t know where this is going to go. I still don’t know how I feel.”
“Can I do anything to help?”
Two laughed. “Put up with my bullshit?”
Naomi put her head back down on the pillow and closed her eyes, still smiling. “Sleep well, Two,” she said.
“Goodnight, Naomi.”
The vampire girl who lay beside her was soon asleep. After a few more minutes of thought, Two rolled on her side, curled up, and closed her eyes.
* * *
“Am I to pretend that I’m not noticing you?”
Two glanced down from the top of the staircase. Stephen was looking up at her from the third-floor landing, an amused expression on his face.
“I guess not,” she said, rolling her eyes, and walked down the staircase to join him.
Stephen had been home for twelve days, and in that time Two had spent four more nights in Naomi’s bedroom. This was the first time that he had been both in the building and awake as Two had exited the room. Naturally, she had managed to time it exactly as he was leaving his own.
“I was wondering whether this would happen,” Stephen said as she reached him.
“It’s not—”
“Oh, good Lord … You don’t need to lie to me.”
Two said nothing, simply favored Stephen with a look of annoyance.
“It’s been painfully obvious for some time that she desired you. I just wasn’t sure if the feeling was reciprocated.”
“It took me a while to figure it out,” Two said.
Stephen considered this for a time, looking at her, one eyebrow arched and his ever-present smirk as firm as ever on his face. Finally he said, “Treat her well,” and turned to head down the stairs.
“That’s it?” Two asked him. “No jokes? No sarcastic comments? Who are you, and what did you do with Stephen?”
“Oh, I could come up with something for you if you really want me to,” Stephen replied, turning and grinning.
“No, that’s OK. I’m sure you’ll hit me when my back is turned.”
“That’s part of the fun,” Stephen agreed, and began again to make his way down the stairs. Two watched him go, shaking her head. A moment later, she heard a small laugh from above her.
“I’m sorry, Two,” Naomi said, leaning over the balcony. “I know you’d hoped to avoid him.”
Two shrugged. “At least it’s out of the way, right? That’s probably for the best.”
“Yes. I wanted to let you know that I just received an email from one of the council’s representatives. Not a high-ranking one, unfortunately. Nonetheless, contact is good. They have no official date set for the next meeting, but the person who wrote said he’d do his best to communicate our situation to those who need to know.”
“Uh … woohoo?” Two was nonplussed.
Naomi smiled. “It’s a start, Two. This is going to be a long process. The members of the European council are all very old. They value their time, and their privacy, and they are rarely quick to act.”
“OK, Naomi. I’ll try to be patient. Thanks for doing this.”
“Pas de problème,” Naomi said. “Perhaps we can work on teaching you French!”
“Yeah, or that vampire language you guys speak. Or do I have to wait for that until I get back into the club?”
Naomi considered this. “We’re not supposed to teach it to humans, but you’re a bit of a special case. It’d be fairly easy for you to learn. It’s a constructed language with very rigid structure and rules.”
“Why do you guys use it, anyway?”
“It was developed in the early twentieth century. The hope was that it’d make communication between vampires in different countries easier. Sometimes it does, but there are many who never learn it for one reason or another. It is still useful though, to be able to say things that one can be sure will be understood by no one other than fellow vampires.”
“I’d like to learn it eventually,” Two said. “That way no one can talk behind my back.”
Naomi smiled at her. “Then we shall teach you. But right now, I’m going to take a shower.”
“OK, see you downstairs.”
Two made her way down to the kitchen, where she took
a granola bar from the cupboard and an apple from the basket on the counter. She set about making a pot of coffee, eating the apple while she waited for it to brew. She could hear the television upstairs broadcasting sports scores, and water running through the townhouse’s pipes as Naomi showered.
This is life, for a while, she thought to herself. Guess you’d better get used to it.
Two took her coffee and the rest of her breakfast, and went to find the book she had left, half-finished, in Naomi’s bedroom.
Chapter 23
A Simple Request
“I want you to teach me to fight,” Two said.
Stephen glanced over at her, one eyebrow raised, and studied her for a moment. Then he turned, smirking, back to the television.
“I know you did not just lay that patronizing look on me,” Two muttered. She was standing by the hallway door, leaning against the wood paneling, looking at the vampire on the couch.
“And I know you didn’t just ask me to teach you to fight,” Stephen replied, still watching the rugby game that had been holding his attention for the past hour and a half.
“I’m serious, Stephen.”
“You do not want to learn how to fight from someone like me.”
“Why not?”
Stephen looked over at her again, and now the smirk that lived so often on his face was gone. “Because I’ll make you work. Hard.”
“That might not be a bad thing …”
Stephen shrugged. “I like you. If you go into this with me and then cry off, I won’t like you anymore. It’s a part of who I am, part of who I was even before I made the change. We’re warriors, the Ay’Araf, but part of that is because we pick warriors for fledglings. You are strong and have shown yourself to be remarkably capable, but I wonder if at your heart you are a fighter.”
“What do you think I am?”
“Naomi sees something in you that calls to both the poet and the politician in her. Perhaps you are a lover?”
Two, who had seen a great deal of that particular side of Naomi over the past months, shook her head. “No … I don’t think so. Naomi – she’d admit this herself, so I don’t feel bad saying it – but if it had been Naomi there staring down Abraham, she’d be dead right now.”
Stephen considered this, and then nodded. “You are very likely correct.”
“So … teach me to fight.”
“I could give you some pointers, if you’d like. That might be—”
“No, Stephen. Honestly, what else do I have to do right now? Nothing. Beat me up. Break me. I don’t give a fuck. If you send me to bed every night so exhausted that I pass out before I’m even under the covers, that’s fine.”
A semblance of the smirk reappeared on Stephen’s face. “Naomi might have something to say about that.”
Two rolled her eyes. Stephen did not care that she and Naomi were sleeping together, but he was not above the occasional snarky comment. Two thought that part of this was because Stephen understood that while Naomi seemed thrilled, Two was still adjusting to this new reality. Stephen was incapable of not pushing so obvious a button.
“Naomi will deal with it,” she said.
“No doubt.”
“Are you going to teach me or not? I’m being serious, Stephen. I think I can learn and keep you as a friend.” Two paused for a moment and then added, “An asshole of a friend, of course.”
The smirk became a grin, and Stephen said, “Of course.”
“Teach me?” Two asked again, for what she knew was the last time. If Stephen decided against it now, she would not push the matter further.
The vampire considered for a long moment, and at last shrugged. “Very well. I shall do what I can, given the fact that you’re a weak, little human and will have a hard time keeping up with the big, bad vampire.”
Two grinned and nodded. She had been on the receiving end of vampires’ strength before and understood that the physical differences were substantial.
“Good,” Stephen said. “First, go cut your hair. Three inches, no longer, until I tell you differently.”
Two, whose hair had reached well past her shoulders since her twelfth birthday, began to tell him no, bit her tongue, and instead asked him why.
“Because I said to,” Stephen replied. “Also, it’s a liability in a fight.”
“But … your hair’s almost as long as mine,” Two told him.
“Which one of us is the three-hundred-year-old vampire who has forgotten more fighting styles than you will ever learn?”
Two rolled her eyes.
“That’s right,” Stephen continued. “My hair is not a liability for me. Yours will be, for you. Three inches is even a liability, but I’m trying to leave something for Naomi to hold on to when—”
“Stop,” said Two. “I’ll cut it.”
“Good. By the way, that is the last time you get to ask me ‘why’ and expect an answer until further notice. Understood?”
I may have made a terrible mistake, Two thought. Aloud she said only, “Understood.”
“Very well. Then go cut your hair, and don’t bother me again until this game is finished.”
With that, Stephen turned back to the television. Two stood where she was for a moment, looking at him, and then turned to go and do what he had instructed.
Two tried the bathroom that she shared with Naomi first. She wasn’t sure whether Naomi would keep scissors there or not, but it was a good first guess. The vampire girl spent more time in the bathroom than Two did. This was mildly amusing, since Naomi could get away without showering for weeks on end. Despite this fact, and her nearly perfect skin, Naomi had a collection of makeup, perfume, lotions, soaps and creams that would rival any human woman.
It amused Two that Naomi owned such things. Vampire skin did not dry out so long as blood was in ready supply, yet Naomi used three separate moisturizers. They were there, she had told Two, in part because of the varying layers of scent they left, and in part simply because they made Naomi feel more human. Sometimes it was easy for a vampire of her age to feel disconnected from the world outside. These things, simple though they might be, helped her to stay in touch.
There were no scissors in the bathroom. Two assumed Naomi left her hair to professionals and didn’t bother trimming on her own. She wondered if she would be forced to use the shears in the kitchen, most commonly used to clip the stalks from flowers that Naomi bought at the local market, but on more than one occasion called into service to cut a chicken into pieces that Two could freeze and cook at her leisure.
She found a pair of scissors in the top-center drawer of the desk in Naomi’s office and returned with them to the bathroom. She stripped down to her panties to avoid getting hair all over her clothes and stood in the bathtub to help collect the falling locks. The porcelain was cold against her feet, and she felt mildly foolish, but disobeying the first command that Stephen had given her seemed a bad way to begin. Two took a deep breath, and she began to cut.
* * *
“You actually did it,” Stephen said. There was an impressed note in his voice that Two knew from experience was a rarity.
“Yeah, I actually did,” Two agreed. She had left her remaining hair in an unruly mop, unsure of what to do with it. She didn’t particularly care; she wasn’t trying to impress Stephen with her appearance.
Stephen glanced back at the television and said, “I can get involved in this football match … soccer, that is, to you American idiots … or we can start. Which would you prefer?”
“Didn’t get all dolled up for nothing,” Two said.
Stephen nodded and shut off the TV. He stood and moved around her, inspecting her.
“You’ve filled out a bit since I first met you,” he said.
“I started actually eating again.”
“Aye, and fortunately you don’t typically eat crap, other than those horrific frozen burritos, but you spend a lot of time sitting.”
Two nodded, not trying to deny it. She liked to spe
nd her time reading, watching television, or hanging out at bars and clubs. If she was more of a dancer, that might have provided activity, but she rarely danced. At least she spent time walking around the city, exploring, going to museums and famous landmarks.
“You’re fine, don’t mistake me,” Stephen said. “I don’t think you’ll ever be fat … but you’re not fit.”
“No, I’m not.” Two thought of the way that Theroen’s blood had helped to make her fit, sculpting her body and making it noticeably stronger even on the first evening. Vampire muscles would still weaken with lack of use – one of the reasons why Stephen spent so much time training – but the blood was always working to perfect the body.
“Situps, pushups, and weights. And running. Once a day to start, then twice when you stop throwing up.”
“I’m going to be throwing up?”
“If you follow the instructions I give you, yes. I’ll have you drinking plenty of fluids to make up for it. You’ll get used to it.”
Two considered this, then said, “OK.”
Stephen raised an eyebrow, given momentary pause by her lack of concern.
Two smiled. “I’m only twenty-one, but I’ve been through a lot of bad shit. Some throwing up isn’t gonna kill me.”
“Very well. You will likely feel better afterward, anyway.”
“All the same, forgive me if I go a little light on breakfast …”
Stephen nodded. “Not too light. At least 200 calories, one hour before you start exercising. You’re going to need the energy.”
“OK. Are we starting all of this tonight?”
He shook his head. “It’s too late. Naomi will be home in an hour. She’ll want her private time with you, and I’ll want to go to my fights. Tonight, I think, we talk.”
Stephen indicated a high-backed, upholstered chair that sat to the left of the couch. Two went to it and sat down. Stephen returned to his previous place, leaning back, crossing one leg, and spreading his arms across the back of the sofa.
Blood Hunt Page 33
